I started this because I noticed my friends were struggling with facing adulthood and navigating through living independently. Since I had been living without family since I was 16, I had learned the hard way a lot of things that my friends are having to learn now. As I begun to write weekly, I noticed that more people benefitted from my writing other than my friends so it is taking a life of its own.

Most self help books are generally catered for adults, or people with real world experiences already. Young adults haven't quite adult-ed enough like ADULTY adults. So I'd like to help my friends and peers out a bit where I can. My writing style is intended to be simple, funny and relatable.

There is something about ignorance being bliss that people like. I'm not sure what it is really but this idea that out of sight, out of mind allows a lot of people slack off on issues that can literally change their geography for lack of knowledge. I've had quite a few friends miss great opportunities because they don't know immigration procedures or understand their status. Each one sucked more than last.

It is officially undergraduate graduation season in Ontario (I'm not sure of the rest of Canada). I know 13 graduands who are making their walk across the stage in the next 2 weeks thanks to my role as the head of university alumni at my youth church. It's a season to celebrate your tremendous achievement of completing your undergraduate studies.

It was my first time being invited to sit at a panel about a week ago [week ago], where we discussed Social media. While I felt I was not well qualified with a lot of insight into technology in that sphere, I soon found that I knew quite enough to hold my own. It was an intriguing conversation that we had and I'd like to carry that on here and share the knowledge I gained from the experience that might be beneficial to others.

People that know they have actual flaws in our character - you know; the people that are chronic latecomers, the people that are rude, the ones that lose their temper like they get paid for it. The people that have a terrible attitude to work. The people that don't care for personal hygiene. The ones that look like they're constantly buying clothes they want to grow into.

When you have put enough distance between yourself and your next paycheque with your savings and are ready to invest, you will notice that stocks and bonds can be quite complex to understand and pick. Stocks can be very rewarding if you know what you are doing but what if you just don't have the time to invest in the education to invest in each company. Well, financial institutions came up with a bunch of solutions based on the basics of funds which we will discuss in this post.

Now that we know how to budget our income appropriately, it's time to start discussing what to do with the goals/money shovel piece of the budget. We have effectively handled our debts and have created some distance between us and Murphy's law with our emergency funds & necessary insurance products. It is now time to do fun stuff with money, investing it.

I've got to say, in my short lifetime on this planet I have met some pretty interesting people. There are those that like to eat. God bless y'all by the way. The ones that like to read, the ones that like to talk, the ones that like to sing, etc. You get what I mean. Most importantly, there are those that have SPECIAL interests.

I was taking inventory of my life the other day with my best friend as most of us do when life comes at you this quick. We went through each other's dating journey and the entertainment such memories bring are box office to put mildly. In the discussion, I realized that dating reveals a different side to people that are fun to talk about.

As a young man with a lot of ego and a highly competitive nature, I find it easy to want to one up the next guy. I find myself constantly comparing my progress with that of the next guy. I have to stop myself from feeling inadequate because someone else seems to always have a new highlight. There is always that one guy that looks like he has figured life out.

Okay, so adulting isn't always about money. It plays a huge part of it, most of it, but not all of it. Some of the time, you're eating. Let's not lie to ourselves here, the way to anybody's heart is through food. I find myself thinking about food at least every other minute. If I'm bored, I just want to walk up to a fridge and open it. Even if I was there a second ago.

Most of us (young adults) don't have piles of cash ... yet. So while we build our stacks of cash, there are ways to synthesize the same terms rich people have. They don't worry when their cars get totalled, they don't worry when they lose their jobs, they don't worry about their cards declining on a purchase. So let's do some things to recreate the same effects.

I really want to someday say I’m great at this but quite frankly as of today, I suck. I run two budgets simultaneously (one for myself, the other for my home) so I can share my struggles and successes from using them for about the last year or so. I’ve quickly learned my personal budget goes over more often than the budget for my home. This is simply because my home doesn’t have emotions, my home does not get hungry unexpectedly and my home doesn’t buy new clothes when there is a sale.

So you want a car, that's a good aspiration to have. You're tired of taking the bus everyday for over an hour in each direction. That's two hours of your life each weekday in addition to any walking and idling while the bus makes its way to your stop. I get it, those are really useful hours you could capture for more useful things. Not to mention the mental preparation for winter and waddling through the snow and sub-zero temperatures just to catch a bus that may or may not even show up.

In honor of my friend in critical condition because of a drunk driving incident, I pray that you come out of it in one piece and that no one I know, love or care about gets into a life threatening situation over stupidity again. The pain, worry and anxiety about injuries and bodily harm to people we hold dear is far too great a burden to repeatedly carry. I'm praying for you, we're praying for you. Get well soon.

We have all been told that you need a credit card to build your credit history. If you don't build your credit history, you won't be able get the loan to buy a car or buy a house; you don't want to rent forever. How about, you need to keep a balance on your credit otherwise it won't show your history. Or the ever famous, without a credit card, you won't be able to buy things online, make hotel reservations, or breathe air.

Alright this time, we talk about Debts. I feel like tackling this is the key to unlocking so much potential for a lot of new adults like myself. The more I think about it, I could argue that people in debt are the most generous people in this life, they are just giving it to the wrong people. These people work so hard JUST to give their money to financial institutions. If you think about it, the moment you create debt you've accepted to pay for something AND give your creditor (the bank) a bonus for it.

I've been 2 years removed from graduating from University so I felt it was about time I did a quick guide to adulting based on my performance and what I've learned so far. I also think it will be helpful for any new adults like myself, maybe we can start a discussion about our strategies, struggles and triumphs so far.